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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.